Save Time and Money with these 4 Pharmaceutical Distribution System Features

One of the main benefits of implementing business management software is to automate processes, save time and reduce costs. This is true for all business types, including pharmaceutical distribution businesses. However, unlike wholesale distributors that sell widgets, pharmaceutical distributors must deal with the added complexity of detailed reporting, sophisticated product tracking and adhering to the different governing bodies and regulations. Without the right system, employees waste significant time manually tracking data, creating reports, and managing inventory. Blue Link’s Pharmaceutical Distribution System offers functionality to small and medium pharmaceutical distributors that eliminate the need to manually track products, automatically generates and sends reports to the appropriate systems for meeting regulatory compliance and helps your business catch suspicious orders. These tools, in conjunction with our inventory, accounting and financial features, help your company save time and money.  Below are some examples of specific pharmaceutical features to help your business become more efficient.

ARCOS/CSOS Reporting

Automation of the creation and upload of ARCOS/CSOS reports ensures you are submitting the appropriate information at the appropriate time. Without automation, your business is stuck remembering to create and submit reports, manually generating the report(s) and then manually “uploading” the report accordingly. With CSOS reporting specifically, you may have to create and submit reports multiple times each week, and if the task does not get completed when required, your business is in breach of compliance. Automating the reporting process with the right software like Blue Link ensures the information is accurate as the report pulls details directly from Blue Link’s secure database to help you stay in compliance with the DEA with no added effort. And, because reports are automatically generated and submitted, this ensures you never miss a deadline and eliminates the need to hire someone to manage reports when order volume increases.

Verification Router Service/Saleable Returns Verification

To comply with the saleable returns verification requirements, Blue Link created an official partnership with LSPedia (a verification router service) for verifying information scanned, and also added support for other standardized “Router Verification Services” such as Rfxcel, Adents and any others that comply with the VRS standards. This allows our customers to validate products using their preferred VRS. These partnerships and integrations save your company from having to manually communicate with the manufacturer and means the manufacturer does not need to manage the potentially thousands of verification requests from different partners in the supply chain. This also helps your business deal with product returned for resale as the system will immediately verify the items and once determined as “legitimate”, allocate them for re-sale. Returned products do not need to accumulate while waiting on a response from the manufacturer which helps to free up space and keep your warehouse organized, and it helps to reduce the number of illegitimate products that enter the supply chain.

Blue Link’s Pharmaceutical Distribution system functionality and integration to VRS allows pharmaceutical distributors to comply with DSCSA requirements while efficiently verifying a returned product. Without this capability, small and mid-sized distributors may decide that receiving returned products is not cost-effective. This in turn will have an impact on the supply chain, and the relationship between trading partners.

Note: The FDA has delayed the enforcement for Saleable Returns Verification until November 2023. In the meantime, added security is expected to be added to VRS.

Suspicious Order Monitoring (SOM)

Blue Link’s SOM functionality gives you confidence that when you’re processing sales orders, they fall within the configurable guidelines set by your company. Unfortunately, it is all too common for an employee to make a mistake by allowing a customer to order product that is not acceptable or enter the wrong quantity of products. SOM features have helped Blue Link clients achieve NABP (formerly VAWD) accreditation and comply with the FDA requirement and shows visiting inspectors that your business is serious about its responsibilities. Employees can quickly enter orders without having to double-check restrictions as the system monitors quantities and variations of products. This also prevents orders from getting shipped with the wrong/mistaken quantity and keeps suspicious orders from being processed through the supply chain. Blue Link also stores information about why an order was “held” and/or ”released” for future reference.

Financially, the SOM is almost like insurance in that it helps prevent the processing of orders that may be considered in violation of the FDA requirement. The automation that SOM brings significantly reduces the manpower it would take if each order shipped was double-checked for suspicious quantities or specific variations of products being ordered together.

 

Mobile Barcode Scanning

Blue Link’s mobile barcode scanning allows you to efficiently and accurately scan a product’s 2D Datamatrix barcode verifying that the product received or picked is the correct/expected product. When you receive product using mobile scanning, Blue Link verifies the GTIN of the unit with that assigned in its database. Once verified, Blue Link reads the lot number and expiration date of the product and automatically populates the information in the system. This eliminates the need for the receiver of the product to manually enter the lot number or expiration date of each product and confirms that the product being received is accurate as there is no potential for human error. This is in direct contrast to the very time consuming and error-prone process of manually entering lot and expiration dates.

As with any ERP system, Blue Link’s Pharmaceutical Distribution Software is designed to save your company time and money – especially when moving from manual processes and introductory software. While maintaining compliance with governing bodies is imperative, so too is finding a system that can help your business become more efficient to enable growth in the future.

As the industry moves closer to November 2023 and the requirement for “interoperability”, Blue Link will ensure our customers have a solution that will allow them to comply with all requirements set out by the FDA/DSCSA and DEA.

Learn More About Blue Link's Pharmaceutical Distribution System